Agriculture: Subsidies

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much his Department spent on inspections to support the work of the Rural Payments Agency in each of the last five years.

Jane Kennedy: holding answer 11 December 2008
	The direct costs of the Rural Payment Agency (RPA) Inspectorate for the last five years are as follows:
	
		
			  Financial year  £ million 
			 2003-04 14.5 
			 2004-05 19.7 
			 2005-06 19.0 
			 2006-07 23.0 
			 2007-08 19.6 
		
	
	The Inspectorate also carries out inspections on behalf of other administrative bodies in addition to RPA such as Natural England. These costs include administering, carrying out and reporting on physical inspections but do not include overheads or the costs of administering the results of those inspections.
	The costs for 2004-05 onwards includes expenditure relating to services provided by agents.
	The increase in the 2006-07 costs were as a result of merging Horticultural Marketing Inspectorate into the Inspectorate.
	The Environment Agency also undertakes inspections in support of the work of the RPA but does not allocate any specific costs towards such inspections because the majority of visits are undertaken as a matter of course. However the Environment Agency has identified costs of additional reporting and it is estimated that the following is spent per annum:
	
		
			   £ 
			 Cost of inspections 15,500 
			 Cost of admin 25,600 
			 Additional costs 10,000 
			 Total 51,100 
		
	
	Animal Health also spent the following amount on inspections to support the work of the RPA:
	
		
			  Financial year  £ 
			 2006-07 47,291 
			 2007-08 84,007 
		
	
	Animal Health does not hold figures for 2003-04 and 2004-05 because the State Veterinary Service was part of Core DEFRA during that period. 2005-06 was the first year for the State Veterinary Service as an Executive Agency of DEFRA and this was a transition period in respect of data.

Departmental Waste Disposal

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of the waste generated by  (a) his Department and  (b) the Environment Agency has been recycled or composted in each of the last three years.

Jane Kennedy: DEFRA recycled and composted the following amounts of waste in each of the last three years.
	
		
			  Tonnes/percentage 
			   2004-05  2005-06  2006-07 
			 Total waste 4,283 5,716 5,252 
			 
			 Recycled/composted 948 1,640 1,385 
			 Percentage recycled 22 29 26 
			 
			 Reused/incinerated with energy recovery 1,262 1,047 1,506 
			 Percentage recovered 52 47 55 
		
	
	At this time the Sustainable Development Commission has yet to publish Government data for 2007-08.
	DEFRA has increased the number of sites on which it reports from 39 in 2004-05 to 54 in 2006-07. The waste data also includes laboratory waste. A large amount of laboratory waste is hazardous and cannot be recycled.
	The following table shows Environment Agency estimates for waste recycled from its offices and depots for the last two financial years. Prior to 2006-07 records were not held centrally and are therefore unavailable.
	
		
			  Kilograms/percentage 
			   2006-07  2007-08 
			 Total waste 448,227 508,324 
			 Landfilled 170,055 153,461 
			 Recycled 267,956 351,634 
			 Percentage recycled 60 69

Livestock: Transport

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the six-day movement rule for farm livestock.

Jane Kennedy: In 2003, an extensive cost benefit analysis into movement standstills demonstrated the significant benefits of standstill regimes in reducing both the size and cost of a disease outbreak. These conclusions remain valid. Standstills confer significant protection when disease is present but undetected. It would not be desirable to remove this protection from the livestock industry.
	This is a devolved issue and while we in DEFRA have no plans to review the standstill the Welsh Assembly and the Scottish Parliament would need to be consulted to determine the position in Wales and Scotland.

Armed Forces: Labour Turnover

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the number of  (a) people in the armed forces,  (b) new recruits to the armed forces and  (c) people who have left the armed forces in each of the last five years.

Bob Ainsworth: Information on the number of people in the armed forces, the number of new recruits to the armed forces and the number of people who have left the armed forces in each of the last five years can be found in Tri-Service Publication (TSP) 1—UK Regular Forces Strengths and Changes.
	TSP 1 is published on monthly basis and the latest information as at 1 October 2008 can be found at:
	http://www.dasa.mod.uk/applications/newWeb/www/index. php?page=48&pubType=1&thiscontent=30&PublishTime= 09:30:00&date=20081127&disText=01%20Oct%202008 &from=listing&topDate=2008-11-27
	All copies of TSP 1 are available in the Library of the House and also at:
	www.dasa.mod.uk.

Armoured Fighting Vehicles: Procurement

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what the timetable is for delivery of the Future Rapid Effects System programme;
	(2)  what funding has been allocated for the Future Rapid Effects System programme;
	(3)  what his current estimate is for the in-service date of the Future Rapid Effects System;
	(4)  how many  (a) utility,  (b) reconnaissance,  (c) fires,  (d) manoeuvre support and  (e) basic capability vehicles will make up the Future Rapid Effects System.

Quentin Davies: The Future Rapid Effect System programme is in its Assessment Phase. The number of vehicles that will be needed to meet the requirement, the timetable for delivery, funding allocation and the in service date will not be fixed until the main investment decision has been taken.

Departmental Internet

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to the answer of 4 November 2008,  Official Report, columns 336-7W, on Government departments: information and communications technology, which IP addresses are used by  (a) his Department and  (b) computers in the offices of its (i) Ministers, (ii) communications officials and (iii) special advisers.

Bob Ainsworth: To help defend against electronic attack, it is standard good information security practice for corporate IT systems, not to publish internal IP addresses. When accessing internet websites, the IP addresses of all of the computers on the MOD's internal office IT system are hidden behind the following IP addresses which are publicly available—195.92.40.49 and 62.25.106.209. These IP addresses are shared with other Government Departments that use the Government Secure Intranet.

Departmental Pay

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what bonus was awarded to the Permanent Under-Secretary of his Department during the financial year 2007-08.

Kevan Jones: Although the Government, with the agreement of those concerned, may in exceptional cases decide to publish personal information about individual public servants, the general policy is to treat such information, including about variable pay, as private.
	Pay and reward for Permanent Secretaries is considered annually by the Permanent Secretaries' Remuneration Committee and is subject to the rules and regulations governed by the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) and the Cabinet Office. Permanent Secretaries pay has been constrained by the same centrally imposed ceiling of the senior civil service (SCS) pay bill since the current pay and reward arrangements for the senior civil service changed on 1 April 2002.
	Non-consolidated bonus awards paid to the current and previous Permanent Under-Secretaries also fall within the SSRB recommended ceilings for the remainder of the SCS. These ceilings reflect the wider move to reward performance with non-consolidated, rather than consolidated, pay increases.
	Bonuses for performance in a particular financial year are paid in the following financial year.
	
		
			   Year/percentage 
			 Performance year 2007-08 
			 Paid in financial year 2008-09 
			 SSRB average SCS bonus ceiling 8.6 
			 Permanent Secretaries range 0-13.1

Departmental Work Experience

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many individuals have worked in his Department on  (a) paid and  (b) unpaid work experience or internships in each of the past three years; on average how many hours a week were worked by such people in each year; what types of work each was involved in; what proportion were in full-time education; what proportion did not complete their set period of work experience; and how much those who received remuneration were paid on average per week in each year.

Kevan Jones: The data requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Ex-servicemen: Radiation Exposure

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations he has received on commissioning research into the potential health effects on children and grandchildren of nuclear test veterans of their forebears' exposure to radiation during tests; and if he will make a statement.

Kevan Jones: Following an offer I made during the adjournment debate on 22 October 2008,  Official R eport, column 417, I met with the hon. Member for Billericay (Mr. Baron) and my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich, North (Dr. Gibson) and members of the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association on 29 October to discuss the possibility of a new MOD funded study on health experiences particularly in relation to offspring. Officials have been discussing the scientific and ethical issues relevant to such a study with the BNTVA and scientific advisers and I hope to be able to make an announcement in the new year.

Iraq: Politics and Government

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent assessment he made of the security situation in  (a) Iraq and  (b) Afghanistan.

John Hutton: In Iraq, the overall security situation continues to improve, with violence now down to levels last seen in 2003. In Basra, the Iraqi Security Forces are maintaining the significant security gains achieved over the course of 2008.
	In Afghanistan, considerable progress has been made but the insurgency remains resilient. The majority of people can go about their daily lives but, in certain areas of the country, particularly in the south and east, significant security challenges remain. The Taliban have failed using conventional tactics and are turning to increasingly indiscriminate attacks, which show complete disregard for the safety of the local population.

Military Aircraft

Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what the status is of the Helix Programme to update the United Kingdom's large aircraft capability; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what factors underlay his Department's Project Helix decision to replace three Nimrod R1 aircraft with US RC-135 Rivet Joint Boeing jets instead of procuring the BAE Systems' MRA4; what assessment he has made of the future of the BAE Systems Woodford production plant and aerodrome beyond 2012 as a result of his Department's decision; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  what estimate he has made of the cost of revamping the R1 fleet in comparison with using the BAE Systems' MRA4 platform; and if he will make a statement;
	(4)  what assessment his Department has made of any operational benefits of the MRA4 replacement option for the Royal Air Force in terms of  (a) capability,  (b) in-service date and  (c) value for money; and if he will make a statement;
	(5)  what the total cost of the replacement of three 35-year-old Nimrod R1 aircraft based at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire with 46-year old US RC-135 Boeings is expected to be; and if he will make a statement;
	(6)  what factors underlay his Department's decision to procure 46-year-old US RC-135 Boeings to replace three 35-year old Nimrod R1 aircraft based at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire.

Quentin Davies: I refer the hon. Member to the answer my right hon. Friend the Minister for International Defence and Security gave on the HELIX programme in another place on 13 October 2008,  Official Report, column WA28, to the noble Lord, Lord Lee of Trafford.
	No decisions have been made on the HELIX programme. We are comparing the three options under consideration—Nimrod RI aircraft, tailored Nimrod MRA4 aircraft and the US Rivet Joint system. This work will inform the main investment decision point, expected to be in 2009. In reaching a conclusion we will take into account all relevant factors including costs, impact on the defence industrial base and operational benefits in terms of capability, in-service date and value for money, as well as other criteria.

Olympic Games 2012: Gun Sports

Humfrey Malins: To ask the Minister for the Olympics if she will place in the Library a copy of the brief provided by Major Peter Underhill to KPMG in relation to Olympic shooting venues.

Tessa Jowell: Major Peter Underhill is the London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games' competition manager for Shooting. KPMG was instructed by the Olympic Delivery Authority to assist in the evaluation of the options analysis for a number of temporary venues. As announced after the Olympic Board in November, the KPMG report will be published. However, we do not yet have a final copy of the report and there are no plans for specific discussions between KPMG and any other parties to be published.

Olympic Games 2012: Marketing

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Minister for the Olympics what her policy is on the authorisation and use of the community brand for the London 2012 Olympics; and if she will make a statement.

Tessa Jowell: The Inspire Mark is awarded by London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) and the IOC the first time a host city has been accorded this to high-quality fully funded non-commercial projects and programmes which have been clearly inspired by the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, and which achieve across sport, culture, education, the environment, volunteering or promoting business opportunities. Projects and programmes licensed to use the Mark specify in the application process the manner in which they wish to use the Mark on promotional material.

Afghanistan: Asylum

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the availability of housing and housing materials for refugees in Afghanistan who have been repatriated from Iran and Pakistan; and if he will make a statement.

Douglas Alexander: Reliable nationwide data on housing for refugees is not available. However, in the eastern region more than 10,730 returning families (over 59,800 people) required shelter support from UNHCR in 2008. This amounts to approximately 35 per cent. of the total returning to the region. Eastern Afghanistan received 63 per cent. of all refugee returnees in 2008.
	There is no shortage of building material for Afghan housing, usually constructed of mud and bricks. However, there is a shortage of skilled labour and this, coupled with rising material costs and the high number of refugees returning (over 275,000 in 2008), is slowing the rebuilding process.

Departmental Public Expenditure

Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what projects his Department has funded at or above the value of £100,000 for each of the last three years.

Douglas Alexander: Data on Department for International Development (DFID) projects are available through two international portals: The AiDA Development Gateway and the OECD Development Assistance Committee's Creditor Reporting System (CRS). Each portal can be assessed through the following links:
	AiDA—http://aida.developmentgateway.org/index.do
	CRS—http://stats.oecd.org/WBOS/lndex.aspx?DatasetCode=CRSNEW
	There are plans to publish more detailed information about individual DFID projects in a database on the DFID website during 2009.

Kashmir: Overseas Aid

David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent discussions he has had with the British Red Cross on the provision of humanitarian aid to Indian-administered Kashmir.

Michael Foster: The Department for International Development has regular dialogue with the British Red Cross and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on key humanitarian emergencies around the World.
	During Gareth Thomas' meeting with Jakob Kellenberger, President of the ICRC, on 7 September 2008 there was no reference to the access of humanitarian aid to Indian-administered Kashmir. Official dialogue with the British Red Cross have focused on their programmes with partner national societies and have not involved discussion on Kashmir.

St Helena: Airports

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what provisions his Department has made for funding the construction of an airport on the island of Saint Helena; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Foster: I refer the hon. Member to the written statement made on 8 December 2008,  Official Report, column 40WS.

St Helena: Airports

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate his Department has made of the financial cost of constructing an airport on St Helena.

Michael Foster: I refer the hon. Member to the written statement made on 8 December 2008,  Official Report, column 40WS.

St Helena: Airports

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent discussions his Department has had with officials from St Helena on the construction of an airport on the island.

Michael Foster: I refer the hon. Member to the written statement made on 8 December 2008,  Official Report, column 40WS.

Zimbabwe: Cholera

Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent discussions he has had with representatives of humanitarian organisations operating in Zimbabwe on the cholera outbreak in that country; and if he will make a statement.

Douglas Alexander: The Department for International Development's (DFID) officials in Harare is in daily contact with organisations responding to the current humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe. We are pressing hard for a well coordinated and effective response. The cholera outbreak has come on top of a protracted food crisis and has revealed the full extent to which basic services in Zimbabwe have now collapsed.

Amusement Arcades: Coastal Areas

John Penrose: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  what steps he is taking in response to recent job losses within the seaside arcade sector; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  how many seaside arcades have closed since September 2007;
	(3)  what steps he is planning to take in response to the downturn in seaside arcades since the introduction of the Gambling Act on 1 September 2007;
	(4)  what recent assessment his Department has made of the impact of regulatory costs of the Gambling Act 2005 on seaside arcades.

Gerry Sutcliffe: We recognise that for a variety of reasons, seaside arcades are facing a challenging operating environment. The Gambling Commission has advised that whilst up to date figures on the number of arcade closures in seaside resorts are not available, it estimates that around 170 arcade premises in seaside or other locations have stopped trading since September 2007.
	The Department has also received representations from the British Amusement and Catering Trade Association (BACTA) which suggest that an estimated 853 jobs in the wider arcade sector have been lost since July 2007.
	That is why we brought forward the stakes and prize review for category C and D gaming machines—to assist Family Entertainment Centres, pubs and machine manufacturers. We have taken account of the industry's responses to our recent consultation which proposed increases in stakes and prize limits for certain categories of C and D machines and will shortly announce how we intend to proceed.
	Increasing stakes and prizes is not the sole answer to the problems seaside attractions are currently facing—seaside resorts need to develop their own imaginative ideas to attract visitors. The Government can also play their part and are helping our seaside resorts, as we have shown through our £45 million Sea: Change regeneration programme.
	We have made no assessment of the regulatory costs of the Gambling Act 2005 specifically in relation to seaside arcades. However, we estimate that, overall, the new regime has reduced total administrative burdens by around £57 million annually.

Departmental Higher Education

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many staff in his Department undertook courses funded by the Department for  (a) undergraduate degrees,  (b) postgraduate degrees or diplomas,  (c) Masters degrees,  (d) MBA degrees and  (e) PhD degrees in the last 12 months, broken down by pay band.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) funded the following numbers of staff to undertake courses in the last 12 months:
	 (a) Undergraduate degrees
	A total of 2 staff at Grade B—civil service equivalent SEO/HEO pay band.
	 (b) Postgraduate degrees or diplomas
	A total of three staff (excluding Masters degrees):
	one staff at Grade A—Grade 6/7 equivalent pay band;
	one staff at Grade B—SEO/HEO equivalent pay band;
	one staff at Grade C—EO equivalent pay band.
	 (c) Masters degrees
	A total of 11 staff undertaking MSc or MA degrees:
	four staff at Grade A/A(U)—Grade 6/7 equivalent pay band;
	five staff at Grade B—SEO/HEO equivalent pay band;
	one staff at Grade C—EO equivalent pay band;
	one staff at Grade D—AO/AA equivalent pay band.
	 (d) MBA degrees
	A total of one staff at Grade A/A(U)—Grade 6/7 equivalent pay band.
	 (e) PhD degrees
	None undertaken in the last12 months.

Gambling Commission: Standards

John Penrose: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will ask the National Audit Office to undertake a study into the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of the Gambling Commission.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The Gambling Commission's accounts are audited and approved each year by the National Audit Office. The Commission's set up project and initial operating period has also been subject to an ongoing Office of Government Commerce Gateway review.
	The Gambling Commission was in the first phase of public bodies to undergo a Hampton Implementation Review by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR). The purpose of such independent reviews is to promote more effective and efficient regulatory activity. Details of the review will be published by BERR in due course.

Departmental Data Protection

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many civil servants in his Department have been  (a) investigated,  (b) suspended and  (c) dismissed for (i) losing and (ii) deliberately disclosing (A) data stored on departmental equipment and (B) confidential information in each year since 1997.

Paul Murphy: Since it's inception in 1999, the Wales Office have not conducted any investigations on Civil Servants.

Housing: Repairs and Maintenance

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps she plans to take to assist low income homeowners of state pension age to carry out home maintenance and renewal works.

Iain Wright: We published "Lifetime Homes, Lifetime Neighbourhoods—A National Strategy for Housing in an Ageing Society" earlier this year which addresses the housing and related service needs of older people. This includes initiatives for the promotion and development of better home repairs and adaptations services. Additional funding of over £30 million from 2009 will go to support local agencies, such as home improvement agencies, to help older people with minor repairs and adaptations.
	£10.2 billion has been allocated by my Department for 2008-11 for regional housing capital programmes, including those which address the condition of private sector housing stock. Of this, almost £2 billion is for improvements and regeneration to the existing stock (both local authority owned and private sector). We have issued guidance to regional assemblies which asks them to continue to prioritise those most in need with the expectation that packages of assistance including grants, loans, and equity release schemes are made available to individual homeowners.
	Under the Regulatory Reform (Housing Assistance) (England and Wales) Order 2002 (the RRO) local authorities have a great deal of flexibility and freedom in providing discretionary assistance for repairs and adaptations. It is also for the local authority to decide the circumstances in which to give discretionary assistance, what form that assistance may take (e.g. grants, loans, equity release schemes etc.) and what, if any, conditions to attach.
	Central Government do not prescribe the exact manner in which these powers are used but we expect local authorities to offer packages of assistance to householders, taking into account local priorities, the individual circumstances of the applicant and the resources available to the local authority, we have said that we expect support to continue to go to those most in need.
	In addition, the Government's Supporting People programme allows local authorities to fund handy person schemes for their local area if an authority wishes to do so. The Supporting People ring-fenced grant conditions will be removed from 2009-10 to enable Local Authorities to better meet the needs of vulnerable clients, including older people, by the use of more flexible innovative services.

Housing: Thames Gateway

Howard Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many  (a) house completions and  (b) house starts there have been in each local authority area in the Thames Gateway growth area in (i) each of the last four quarters and (ii) each of the last four years.

Iain Wright: The following tables show house building starts and completions in each local authority in the Thames Gateway growth area for each quarter in the last four years.
	
		
			  House building starts in the Thames Gateway growth area in each of the last four quarters from 2004 - 05 until 2007 - 08 
			   2004 - 05  2005 - 06 
			  Starts  Q1  Q2  Q3  Q4  Total  Q1  Q2  Q3  Q4  Total 
			 Barking and Dagenham 53 189 432 59 733 278 42 27 296 643 
			 Basildon 144 155 64 153 516 127 149 110 124 510 
			 Bexley 43 44 14 14 115 33 45 127 75 280 
			 Castle Point 16 121 19 78 234 34 14 27 71 116 
			 Dartford 110 179 47 86 422 68 91 48 80 287 
			 Gravesham 93 50 52 46 241 128 62 92 559 841 
			 Greenwich 209 278 160 860 1,507 329 196 291 406 1,222 
			 Havering 43 126 198 145 512 66 77 464 159 766 
			 Lewisham — — — — — — — — — — 
			 Medway 171 76 67 124 438 125 93 115 53 386 
			 Newham 97 — 67 471 — 352 157 84 — — 
			 Rochford 49 34 192 19 294 171 52 63 85 371 
			 Southend-on-Sea 42 80 161 34 317 54 34 93 50 231 
			 Swale 121 109 90 172 492 286 240 133 164 823 
			 Thurrock 187 183 168 220 758 288 20 145 168 621 
			 Tower Hamlets 717 377 556 327 1,997 398 1,036 794 190 2,418 
		
	
	
		
			   2006 - 07  2007 - 08 
			  Starts  Q1  Q2  Q3  Q4  Total  Q1  Q2  Q3  Q4  Total 
			 Barking and Dagenham 322 141 296 16 775 100 16 50 54 220 
			 Basildon 93 90 112 163 458 206 133 215 205 759 
			 Bexley 125 46 75 97 343 37 124 3 25 189 
			 Castle Point 32 21 34 29 116 43 14 33 10 100 
			 Dartford 72 114 105 176 467 256 160 42 131 589 
			 Gravesham 22 26 45 42 135 82 155 120 45 402 
			 Greenwich 15 33 302 16 366 56 72 369 — — 
			 Havering 94 74 172 124 464 63 125 120 110 418 
			 Lewisham — 69 99 132 — 30 48 — 110 — 
			 Medway 78 141 51 177 447 212 — 207 141 — 
			 Newham — — — — — — — 121 — — 
			 Rochford 99 18 138 79 334 35 51 49 28 163 
			 Southend-on-Sea 57 56 179 41 333 54 40 233 51 378 
			 Swale 247 344 147 195 933 264 — 273 172 — 
			 Thurrock 16 12 90 108 226 99 15 74 8 196 
			 Tower Hamlets 201 203 227 224 855 212 87 454 151 904 
			  Notes: 1. The Thames Gateway comprises of parts of 16 local authorities. 2. Figures are as reported by the local authorities and the National House—Building Council. Where local authorities submitted no P2 returns for one or more quarters, no figure has been presented in the quarter or annual total as presenting NHBC information only would under—report the true level of house building completions in the local authority.  Source:  New build starts from P2 quarterly returns submitted by local authorities and the National House—Building Council to CLG. 
		
	
	
		
			  House building completions in the Thames Gateway growth area in each of the last four quarters from 2004-05 until 2007-08 
			   2004-05  2005-06 
			  Completions  Q1  Q2  Q3  Q4  Total  Q1  Q2  Q3  Q4  Total 
			 Barking and Dagenham 127 126 115 172 576 222 95 84 66 467 
			 Basildon 91 73 88 79 331 111 116 75 99 401 
			 Bexley 103 24 39 55 221 34 27 8 71 140 
			 Castle Point 8 51 77 9 145 15 42 48 71 176 
			 Dartford 133 82 95 70 380 107 65 113 81 366 
			 Gravesham 116 180 192 26 514 52 40 82 103 277 
			 Greenwich 290 639 309 338 1,576 328 189 317 239 1,073 
			 Havering 119 102 166 70 457 222 86 114 64 486 
			 Lewisham — — — — — — — — — — 
			 Medway 102 151 76 201 530 99 145 227 91 562 
			 Newham 149 — 230 153 — 222 181 187 — — 
			 Rochford 19 17 19 38 93 36 20 54 69 179 
			 Southend-on-Sea 35 39 119 56 269 60 121 178 35 394 
			 Swale 145 112 99 60 416 71 87 200 132 490 
			 Thurrock 123 123 245 177 668 219 97 334 12 662 
			 Tower Hamlets 1,113 765 950 124 2,952 228 294 330 1,066 1,918 
		
	
	
		
			   2006-07  2007-08 
			  Completions  Q1  Q2  Q3  Q4  Total  Q1  Q2  Q3  Q4  Total 
			 Barking and Dagenham 128 148 121 208 605 183 264 108 250 805 
			 Basildon 90 144 89 198 521 80 104 51 495 730 
			 Bexley 21 16 63 112 212 116 40 11 135 302 
			 Castle Point 41 53 103 36 233 11 29 34 20 94 
			 Dartford 131 75 93 98 397 214 168 284 241 907 
			 Gravesham 68 46 33 140 287 48 94 61 35 238 
			 Greenwich 397 347 139 251 1,134 262 217 141 — — 
			 Havering 250 70 106 224 650 115 227 190 135 667 
			 Lewisham 155 238 175 401 969 55 263 350 464 1,132 
			 Medway 71 — 66 117 326 170 — 170 187 — 
			 Newham —  — — — — — 82 — — 
			 Rochford 126 42 16 178 362 131 48 12 54 245 
			 Southend-on-Sea 66 83 42 23 214 64 108 89 29 290 
			 Swale 189 156 236 156 737 287 — 190 89 — 
			 Thurrock 148 39 403 96 686 6 96 48 29 179 
			 Tower Hamlets 421 632 398 453 1,904 95 384 720 133 1,332 
			  Notes: 1. The Thames Gateway comprises of parts of 16 local authorities. 2. Figures are as reported by the local authorities and the National House-Building Council. Where local authorities submitted no P2 returns for one or more quarters, no figure has been presented in the quarter or annual total as presenting NHBC information only would under-report the true level of house building completions in the local authority.  Source:  New build completions from P2 quarterly returns submitted by local authorities and the National House-Building Council to CLG.

Departmental Air Travel

Francis Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Rochford and Southend East of 6 October 2008,  Official Report, column 196W, on departmental air travel, whether figures for 2007-08 have now been calculated.

Geoff Hoon: The figures for air mileage for 2007-08 have now been calculated. The domestic flight mileage was 693,997, short-haul mileage was 821,311, and long-haul mileage, 1,939,471.
	All official travel is carried out in accordance with the requirements of the Civil Service Management Code.

Driving Tests

Adam Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what population density figure was used to calculate the distance to the nearest acceptable alternative driving test centre, with reference to each driving test centre which  (a) has had its closure announced and  (b) was considered for closure in the last 24 months; and what geographical or constituency boundary was used to calculate the population density in each case.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Driving Standards Agency (DSA) has population density criteria travel distance contained in its 'Code of Practice on Written Consultations—Driving Test Centres', copies of which are available in the Libraries of the House. These criteria are applied in considering each test centre closure. They are:
	
		
			  Indicator  Population density  Distance criteria 
			 1 Equal to or greater than 1,250 persons per square kilometre No more than 7 miles 
			 2 Between 101 and 1,249 persons per square kilometre No more than 20 miles 
			 3 Equal to or less than 100 persons per square kilometre No more than 30 miles 
		
	
	The population densities applied are for district or unitary authorities. The population density data are from 2004 supplied by the Office of National Statistics and mapped to cover the 1998 structure of local authorities.
	Tables have been placed in the Libraries of the House listing practical test centres relocated or closed by DSA over the past 24 months and those which DSA has announced will be relocating or closing—showing the population density indicator used in the consideration of the closure.

External Consultants

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what payments the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency has made to external consultants in each of the last five years  (a) in total and  (b) broken down by payments to (i) management consultancies, (ii) public affairs consultancies, (iii) public relations consultancies, (iv) advertising agencies and (v) other organisations;
	(2)  what payments his Department has made to external consultancies in each of the last five years, broken down by payments to  (a) management consultancies,  (b) public affairs consultancies,  (c) public relations consultancies,  (d) advertising agencies and  (e) other consultancies;
	(3)  what payments the Driving Standards Agency has made to external consultancies in each of the last five years, broken down by payments to  (a) management consultancies,  (b) public affairs consultancies,  (c) public relations consultancies,  (d) advertising agencies and  (e) other consultancies;
	(4)  what payments the Vehicle Certification Agency has made to external consultancies in each of the last five years, broken down by payments to  (a) management consultancies,  (b) public affairs consultancies,  (c) public relations consultancies,  (d) advertising agencies and  (e) other consultancies;
	(5)  what payments the Highways Agency has made to external consultancies in each of the last five years, broken down by payments to  (a) management consultancies,  (b) public affairs consultancies,  (c) public relations consultancies,  (d) advertising agencies and  (e) other consultancies;
	(6)  what payments the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has made to external consultancies in each of the last five years, broken down by payments to  (a) management consultancies,  (b) public affairs consultancies,  (c) public relations consultancies,  (d) advertising agencies and  (e) other consultancies;
	(7)  what payments the Government Car and Despatch Agency has made to external consultancies in each of the last five years, broken down by payments to  (a) management consultancies,  (b) public affairs consultancies,  (c) public relations consultancies,  (d) advertising agencies and  (e) other consultancies;
	(8)  what payments the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency has made to external consultancies in each of the last five years, broken down by payments to  (a) management consultancies,  (b) public affairs consultancies,  (c) public relations consultancies,  (d) advertising agencies and  (e) other consultancies.

Geoff Hoon: Total expenditure by the central Department and its agencies on consultants in each of the last five financial years is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  £ million 
			   2003-04  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08 
			 DfT Central 58.5 65.2 64.0 53.6 51.0 
			 Highways Agency 169.7 115.0 2.4 1.7 2.0 
			 Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency 3.4 4.8 1.9 18.0 18.4 
			 Driving Standards Agency 4.0 3.6 1.2 5.1 3.5 
			 Vehicle and Operator Services Agency 3.0 3.4 1.4 3.0 3.7 
			 Maritime and Coastguard Agency 0.8 1.2 1.0 1.3 1.5 
			 Vehicle Certification Agency 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 
			 Government Car and Despatch Agency (joined DfT from 2005-06) n/a n/a 0.1 0.1 0.1 
			 Total 239.5 193.3 72.1 82.9 80.3 
		
	
	Expenditure figures from 2005-06 exclude Central Department and Highways Agency spend on technical transport related consultancy. Expenditure by the Highways Agency on engineering consultancy is scored as outsourced procurement of specialist services.
	Lists have been placed in the Libraries of the House which show the supplier and (where possible) the value and the nature of the consultancy work recorded within the Department and its Agencies accounting systems as consultancy during the four financial years between 2004-05 and 2007-08. Similar data for 2003-04 is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	The Business Units within the Department currently use separate accounting systems which record expenditure differently. The totals include a mixture of committed spend (i.e. orders raised) and actual spend incurred. The Professional Services Forum definition of consultancy has been applied since 2005-06 resulting in more accurate coding of expenditure.

Motorways: Road Signs and Markings

Robert Goodwill: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the accuracy of information conveyed to drivers by means of variable message signs on the motorway network.

Paul Clark: The Highways Agency currently assesses the accuracy of VMS messages in two key ways; customer satisfaction and performance measurement.
	The latest customer satisfaction surveys for the period April to September this year tell us that 40 per cent. believe the messages are more accurate than they were a year ago, while only 1 per cent. think they are less accurate. 54 per cent. responded that they were about the same level of accuracy, and 5 per cent. replied that they had not seen a VMS in the period covered.
	The Highways Agency measures the accuracy of the setting of VMS. Supervisory staff working in the Highways Agency's control centres assess the accuracy and timeliness of signs in real time, and monthly performance indicators are produced. The following are the performance indicators used:
	To set 90 per cent. of signs and signals within three minutes of a traffic officer or police request being received, and change or remove 90 per cent. of signs and signals within two minutes of a traffic officer or police request being received. The current performance indicator score for year to date is 94 per cent.
	Achieve 90 per cent. quality compliance for sign and signal setting. The current performance indicator score for year to date is 95 per cent.

Railways: Fares

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will postpone fare increases on Southeastern rail services until the ticketing machines are made compatible with Oyster pay-as-you-go cards; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Clark: Negotiations between the train operators and Transport for London to enable the use of Oyster Pay As you Go as a payment method for National Rail fares across the London Travelcard area are continuing. There is no association between Oyster Pay-as-you-go introduction and fares regulation.

Roads: Peterborough

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many traffic movements there were on the A47 between the Nene Parkway and Paston Parkway in Peterborough in each month since May 2005.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The annual average daily flow (AADF) for the A47 between Nene Parkway (A1260) and Paston Parkway (A15) was 37,100 vehicles in 2005, 40,200 in 2006 and 38,500 in 2007. These figures give an estimate of the number of vehicles travelling along the road on an average day of the year.
	The Department does not hold reliable monthly data on the traffic flows for these sections of road.
	AADF data for 1999 to 2007 is available from our website
	www.dft.gov.uk/matrix/.

Access to Work Programme

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the  (a) budget for and  (b) expenditure on Access to Work was in each of the last five years.

Jonathan R Shaw: The available information on the budget and actual spend for Access to Work programme in each of the last five years is provided in the following table.
	
		
			  £ million 
			   Budget  Actual spend 
			 2003-04 n/a 55.8 
			 2004-05 n/a 59.6 
			 2005-06 60.1 59.7 
			 2006-07 63.8 59.8 
			 2007-08 64 75.8 
			 (1) Not available.   Notes:  1. Figures exclude Jobcentre Plus admin costs as these cannot be separately identified at a programme level.  2. Budget data are only available for the past three financial years and represent the allocation made at the beginning of the year for internal control purposes. Variances arise when the volumes vary from those anticipated at the planning stage.   Source:  Actual spend data is from respective annual audited accounts.

Departmental ICT

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans his Department has for future changes to its computer systems which store  (a) financial and  (b) non-financial data.

Jonathan R Shaw: The Department does not categorise changes to computer systems according to data distinctions: changes often affect the storage of both financial and non financial data and its deployment.
	The Department's computer systems are constantly reviewed to support policy and business modernisation and to improve efficiency and value for money. The Department currently has a schedule of over 1,200 IT system changes in the next 12 months. Many of these will arise from its current portfolio of about 200 modernisation projects.
	19 of these are major business change programmes supported by IT. They are listed in appendix 1 of the report of the National Audit Office to the Work and Pensions Select Committee (Department for Work and Pensions: Information Technology Programmes), a copy of which is in the Library. They include programmes which will improve the deployment of financial information, for example the Central Payment System, and programmes to deliver efficient and effective services to the Department's customers, for example the Department for Work and Pensions Change Programme.

Disability Living Allowance: Cancer

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will review the qualifying periods for the disability living allowance and attendance allowance for cancer patients.

Jonathan R Shaw: We have no plans to review the qualifying periods for disability living allowance and attendance allowance. The qualifying periods help establish that disability and the resulting care, supervision or mobility needs are of a long standing nature, and ensures that the benefit goes only to those for whom it is intended.
	Disabled people do not always have to wait until the qualifying period is over before they become entitled to benefit. The decision maker will always look at whether, and for how long, the person has required the necessary level of help or has had the necessary degree of walking difficulties before the date of their claim, and consider whether some or all of the qualifying period has already been completed. In addition, special rules can apply to people who are terminally ill and who would not reasonably be expected to live beyond six months. These people do not have to satisfy the qualifying period and are automatically awarded the higher rate of attendance allowance or the highest rate care component of disability living allowance without having to meet the normal conditions of entitlement.

Housing Benefit: North West

Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many housing benefit claimants there are in  (a) the North West,  (b) Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council area and  (c) Cheadle constituency.

Kitty Ussher: holding answer 11 December 2008
	As at August 2007, the most recent available information, there were 518,600 housing benefit recipients in the north-west. At the same date there were 14,000 housing benefit recipients in Stockport metropolitan borough council area. Housing benefit information is not available at constituency level.
	 Notes
	1. Data refers to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple.
	2. The figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred.
	3. Figures for any non-responding authorities have been estimated.
	 Source
	Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information System
	Quarterly 100 per cent. caseload stock-count taken in August 2007.

Pathways to Work

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what data is held centrally on the performance of Pathways to Work providers; and if he will make a statement.

Jonathan R Shaw: Data are currently collected centrally on the performance of Pathways to Work providers but as this is classified as 'Commercial in Confidence' this information is not published. A full evaluation of Provider Led Pathways to Work is due to commence in 2009 and these results will be published.

Social Fund: Greater London

Jacqui Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was paid out in crisis loans  (a) in total and  (b) by each London job centre in each year since 2005.

Kitty Ussher: Crisis loan gross expenditure in Great Britain since 2005 is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Crisis loan gross expenditure in Great Britain 
			   £ million 
			 2005-06 86.4 
			 2006-07 97.9 
			 2007-08 121.2 
			  Note:  Figures include gross expenditure made after review.  Source: Annual reports by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the Social Fund. 
		
	
	Information on how much was paid out in crisis loans by each London Jobcentre since 2005 is not available.

Detainees: Guantanamo Bay

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the US administration on behalf of Mr. Binyam Mohamed in respect of his detention in Guantanamo Bay.

Bill Rammell: Following the Government's request for Mr. Mohamed's release and return in August 2007 we have actively pursued his case with all levels of the US Government. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has discussed Mr. Mohamed's case with the Secretary of State Rice on a number of occasions and senior officials—including our ambassador in Washington—have had regular discussions with their counterparts in the Departments of State, Defence and the National Security Council to take forward the request for his release and return.
	In addition to our ongoing efforts to secure for Mr. Mohamed's release and return from Guantanamo Bay, these engagements have included representations on his welfare, his allegations of mistreatment, and strenuous efforts to ensure that his lawyers were able to access the information they sought via judicial review in the English courts through the US legal system. UK officials also conducted a welfare visit to Mr. Mohamed in Guantanamo Bay in July.

Bank Services

Derek Twigg: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the bank recapitalisation scheme on levels of bank lending.

Ian Pearson: The Chancellor announced on 25 November that the Government would undertake a quick review of the arrangements for the Government's Credit Guarantee Scheme and assess whether they have any implications for the Crosby proposals and how it was working in practice, to maximise its impact on financial and wider economic stability while ensuring it did not crowd out market-based lending now or when better market conditions return.
	That review is now complete, and the Government are today announcing changes to the Scheme consistent with the objectives of the review.
	Taking account of international experience, and market developments, in particular the falls in bank risk premia, the Government are adjusting the formula that determines the fees paid by participating institutions for use of the Government guarantees. This will lead to those institutions paying a lower, but still commercial, fee for use of the Scheme.
	To enable participating institutions to manage better the transition from guaranteed to wholly unsupported funding the Government will also lengthen the scheme, from three to five years, ending in April 2014. Within that the three year maximum term of individual instruments will be retained, with some flexibility to roll them over as agreed with the Treasury. At present the Scheme guarantees borrowing in Sterling, Euros and US Dollars. In future participants will also be able to borrow in a wider range of currencies, further extending the investor base in UK banks and building societies.
	These changes will enable banks and building societies to borrow from a diverse range of investors, improve their financial positions, and therefore pave the way for them to lend to the economy.
	These proposals vary the Scheme as approved by the European Commission on 13 October 2008 and are subject to the Commission's approval under the state aid rules. The Government have informed the European Commission of these proposals and will bring forward changes to the rules of the Scheme to implement these proposals once it has obtained the Commission's approval.
	Full details of the changes are being published on the Treasury and the Debt Management Office's websites.

Child Care Vouchers

Mark Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the take-up by employers of the childcare voucher scheme in circumstances where the employee receives no more than statutory maternity pay; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: No official data is collected from employers regarding the offer of child care voucher schemes to employees. Child care voucher schemes are voluntary schemes and employers are not required to inform HMRC that they offer these arrangements to their employees. This applies irrespective of whether the employees are in receipt of normal pay or statutory maternity pay.
	Research undertaken in 2006 estimated that approximately 2.5 per cent. of employers offered child care voucher schemes or another form of employer supported child care to their employees. This research can be found at the following link:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/research/report23-final.pdf

Child Trust Fund

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what average payment has been made by parents into existing child trust fund accounts in  (a) Jarrow constituency,  (b) South Tyneside,  (c) the North East and  (d) England in each year since the scheme's inception;
	(2)  how many children were eligible to receive a child trust fund voucher in  (a) Jarrow constituency,  (b) South Tyneside,  (c) the North East and  (d) England in each year since the scheme's inception;
	(3)  how many child trust fund vouchers have been used by parents to open an account in  (a) Jarrow constituency,  (b) South Tyneside,  (c) the North East and  (d) England in each year since the scheme's inception;
	(4)  how many child trust fund vouchers have been issued in  (a) Jarrow constituency,  (b) South Tyneside,  (c) the North East and  (d) England in each year since the scheme's inception.

Ian Pearson: The Detailed Distributional Analysis, including details of average contributions made by parents and others was published on 6 November 2008. Geographically this data are only available at Government office region level and can be viewed on the HM Revenue and Customs' website at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/child_trust_funds/dda-oct08.pdf.
	Constituency level data, including the number of vouchers issued and parental account opening figures, on Child Trust Fund accounts was published on 6 November 2008 and can be viewed on the HM Revenue and Customs' website at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/ctf/cons-stats-oct08.pdf.

Debt

Justine Greening: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate his Department has made of the number of individuals subject to debt management plans in each of the last four years.

Gareth Thomas: holding answer 10 December 2008
	I have been asked to reply.
	Because a debt management plan (DMP) is an informal agreement between a debtor and his creditors consequently there is no official record of their numbers. There is a multiplicity of both public and private sector providers in this area, but in view of the scarcity of information available, no attempt has been made to estimate numbers.
	The Consumer Credit Counselling Service, the biggest provider of DMPs in the third sector, set up 12,500 DMPs in the first six months of this year.

Departmental ICT

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  with reference to the answer of 5 November 2008,  Official Report, column 541W, on departmental ICT, how many staff in  (a) his Department and  (b) its agencies are or have been working on each of the IT projects listed;
	(2)  if he will list the companies with which his Department or its agencies have contracts relating to each of the IT projects;
	(3)  what the  (a) budget and  (b) cost to date has been of each of the IT projects;
	(4)  what the purpose is of each of the IT projects;
	(5)  how many contractors in  (a) his Department and  (b) its agencies are or have been working on each of the IT projects.

Angela Eagle: Only two of the projects listed in my previous answer, which had been subject to a Gateway Review by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), belong to HM Treasury and its agencies.
	(1) HM Treasury Group's Corporate Shared Services Programme was a management programme delivering better quality service provision, through transforming skills, services and better deployment of resources. The IT-enabling element of the programme was the creation of a single system to underpin the new shared Human Resource service, for people in HM Treasury and OGC.
	The contracted companies used under the IT-enabling element of the programme were Deloittes Touche, Parity, Certes and Rullion Computer Personnel.
	(2) The OGC Consultancy Services Framework project (now known as External Resources Framework) is an acquisition project, not an IT-enabled one. It has been categorised in error as an IT-enabled project in our database and this is why it appeared in the initial reply. The framework provides OGC with access to a pool of skilled individuals to support OGC's aims and objectives by conducting reviews (e.g. Gateway Reviews, Procurement Capability Reviews, reviews of major projects and programmes) via a framework contract with a number of suppliers. The project did not use any contracted companies, as it was sourced entirely from internal OGC resource.
	The further information requested in respect of these two projects is given in the following table.
	Responsibility for the 2011 Census Project was transferred to the Cabinet Office in April 2008, when the Office for National Statistics became part of the independent UK Statistics Authority.
	In respect of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury gave to the hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Grant Shapps) on 18 November 2008,  Official Report, column 279W.
	The other projects listed in my previous answer form part of HMRC's Departmental Transformation Programme, including:
	(1) the New Penalties Project, which is making the changes necessary to implement a new penalties regime for HMRC taxes established in Finance Act 2007;
	(2) Excise Movement and Control System (EMCS), a project to computerise the current paper system to track the movement of duty suspended excise goods within the EU (to comply with European Council Decision 1152/2003/EC).
	Details of these projects (including the purpose of individual programmes, costs to 31 March 2008, and planned expenditure to 2011) are outlined in the National Audit Office's recent value-for-money report on that programme, published in July 2008 (HC 930).
	
		
			  HM Treasury Group Projects 
			  Projects  Number of staff  Number of contractors  Budget  Cost to date( 1) 
			 Corporate Shared Services Programme 11 7 £1.36 million £0.91 million 
			 Consultancy Services Framework 6 None n/a (2)£105,000 
			 (1) 30 September 2008 (2) The project is closed

EU Budget

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of the EU budget UK contributions will comprise in  (a) 2008,  (b) 2009 and  (c) 2010.

Ian Pearson: Chart 2.3 (page 17) of the 2008 European Community Finances White Paper (Cm 7462) shows the respective member states percentage shares of financing the 2008 EC Budget. The equivalent shares for the 2009 and 2010 EC Budgets will be included in the 2009 and 2010 White Papers respectively.

Non-Domestic Rates: Empty Property

David Burrowes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effects on small businesses of the change in the level of empty property rate since its introduction on 1 April 2008.

Angela Eagle: The Department of Communities and Local Government published an impact assessment of the empty property rate relief reforms in May 2007 alongside the primary legislation.
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/localgovernment/ratingempty
	On 26 February this year, my colleague John Healey laid a further assessment before the House, alongside the regulations.
	http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2008/em/uksiem_20080386_en.pdf
	The Government announced in the recent pre-Budget report, a temporary increase, for 2009-10, to the threshold (from £2,200 to £15,000) at which an empty property becomes liable for business rates.
	This was targeted at helping small businesses who own lower value properties manage short-term pressures due to difficult property market conditions. It is estimated more than 70 per cent. of empty properties will pay no business rates in 2009-10.
	The Government keep all taxes and reliefs under review.

Revenue and Customs: Closures

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer where HM Revenue and Customs offices identified for vacation following the announcement of the rationalisation programme, which are  (a) owned or  (b) leased by HM Revenue and Customs are leased; what estimate his Department has made of the costs of relinquishing those leases; and what estimate it has made of the cost of vacating these offices.

Stephen Timms: The vast majority of HM Revenue and Customs' (HMRC) offices were included in its Strategic Transfer of the Estate to the Private Sector (STEPS), a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract with its estate partner, Mapeley in 2001. HMRC occupies these properties under the terms of the STEPS contract rather than by the terms of a traditional lease.
	Most of the offices identified for vacation under HMRC's Change Programme are held by HMRC under the STEPS contract or are offices that HMRC occupies space by way of a non-lease, inter-departmental arrangement with other Government departments.
	The offices closed or identified for closure that are held on a direct lease by HMRC are:
	Oakglade House, Ashton Under Lyne
	Portcullis House, Southend. Floors 11-14
	Spitfire House, Edinburgh
	Liberator House, Prestwick
	Tremains House, Bridgend
	Hockney House, Shipley
	Tyr Myrddin, Carmarthen
	HMRC intends to align its vacation of its leased offices with the existing lease expiry or break dates so no additional costs other than usual lease termination costs should be incurred.
	The estimated costs of vacating the offices held on a direct lease has not been separately quantified.

Dental Services

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many  (a) root fillings and  (b) individual tooth extractions have been carried out under the NHS dental contract in each year since 2006.

Ann Keen: This information is not collected in the form requested. Such information as is available is as follows.
	Information on the incidence of certain treatments (including root-fillings and extractions) is available for a sample of courses of treatments (CoTs) processed in 2007-08, by treatment band, is available in Table 4a (adult courses of treatment) and Table B4 (child courses of treatment) of the Dental Treatment Band Analysis, England and Wales 2007-08 report. This information is available at England level.
	The information is presented as the percentage of CoTs that included particular items of treatment, the number of items of treatment per 100 CoTs, and the average number of treatment items per CoT where the treatment occurs.
	This report, published on 21 August 2008, has already been placed in the Library and is also available on the NHS Information Centre website at:
	http://www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/dentaltba0708

Doctors: Career Structure

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  whether active on call time will begin when  (a) a doctor receives a call,  (b) a doctor responds to a call or  (c) a doctor arrives with the patient; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  how  (a) inactive and  (b) active call time is calculated; and how it will be calculated when the Working Time Directive comes into force with regard to the NHS.

Ann Keen: A doctor who receives a work related call is counted as working. The proposed changes to the European Working Time Directive (EWTD), supported by the Council of Ministers, would not change this interpretation.
	Guidance on the Working Time Regulations can be found on the Department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform's website via:
	www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/employment/employmentlegislation/employmentguidance/page30342.html
	The "inactive part of on-call time" has been defined as the period during which the on-call worker "has the obligation to be available at the workplace to intervene, at the employer's request, to carry out his activity or duties", but is not required to carry out his activity or duties. The active time is the period when the worker carries out his activity or duties.
	Any changes to the EWTD require the support of both the European Council and the European Parliament under the co-decision process. The Parliament plan to vote on the possible amendments to the Directive on 17 December 2008. Their view will then be passed back to Council for consideration. Member states will have three years from any agreement to implement changes and the United Kingdom would consult openly before so doing.

Drugs: Rehabilitation

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health according to the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System, how many clients in each local authority structured drug treatment  (a) had a child aged 16 years or under and  (b) were living with a child aged 16 years or under in each of the last 10 years.

Dawn Primarolo: Although the data requested are collected via the National Drugs Treatment Monitoring System, the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA) have identified problems with the quality of these data and it believes that releasing these data in their current form would be misleading. The NTA are addressing these data quality issues and expect to publish these data, with an assessment their quality, alongside their annual statistics release in October 2009.

Food: Safety

Brian Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many public analysts laboratories were open in each year since 1997.

Dawn Primarolo: This information is not held centrally. However, we are aware that there are currently 21 public analyst laboratories in the United Kingdom.

Maternity Services

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of pregnant women had a health and social care needs assessment by a midwife or healthcare professional within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy in the last 12 months.

Ann Keen: Data for the last 12 months on the proportion of pregnant women who had a health and social care needs assessment by a midwife or healthcare professional within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy is not yet available.
	The first quarterly data that will enable an assessment of performance based on the revised data definitions that support monitoring of the public service agreement indicator will be available in mid August 2009.

Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency: Standards

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many yellow card reports the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency received in each year since 1997; to which  (a) drug and  (b) device each such report related; and how many such reports were made by (i) patients and (ii) healthcare professionals in each year.

Dawn Primarolo: Reports of suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are collected by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and Commission for Human Medicines (CHM) through the spontaneous reporting scheme; the Yellow Card Scheme. Approximately 20,000 reports of ADRs are reported to the MHRA/CHM through this scheme each year. The scheme collects ADR reports from across the whole United Kingdom and includes all medicines, including those from prescriptions, over-the-counter or general retail sales. Reports are also received for herbal medicines and other unlicensed medicines. Reports for adverse incidents with medical devices are not collected by the Yellow Card Scheme.
	With regards to a breakdown of suspected drugs reported via the Yellow Card Scheme, due to the sheer volume of data, we refer you to the MHRA website at:
	http://www.mhra.gov.uk/daps.
	At this website, Drug Analysis Prints (DAPs) can be found. DAPs are freely available in the public domain and list all suspected reactions reported for a particular medicinal active substance. A breakdown of total numbers of reports received for a particular medicinal active substance and the number of suspected reactions are also stated on a DAP.
	Table 1 shows the number of suspected ADRs received by the MHRA between 1997 and 2007. The second column shows the total number of ADR reports submitted including those from marketing authorisation holders through their legal obligations. Columns three and four provide the number of reports received directly from patients and health care professionals via the Yellow Card Scheme.
	
		
			  Table 1 
			  Year received by MHRA  Total number of spontaneous suspected ADR reports received (including company ADR reports)  Number of spontaneous UK suspected ADR reports submitted directly by patients  Number of spontaneous UK suspected ADR reports submitted directly by health  care professionals 
			 1997 16,627 0 14,181 
			 1998 18,047 0 14,908 
			 1999 18,484 0 14,938 
			 2000 33,147 0 29,229 
			 2001 21,454 0 17,256 
			 2002 17,604 0 12,890 
			 2003 19,218 0 13,951 
			 2004 19,973 0 13,494 
			 2005 21,925 949 12,585 
			 2006 22,021 3,598 10,913 
			 2007 21,767 1,651 10469 
		
	
	Medical device related adverse incident reports are not submitted via the Yellow Card system. The MHRA operates a separate, voluntary reporting system for all medical device users. The numbers of such reports received from patients and health care professionals in the United Kingdom is given in table 2.
	
		
			  Table 2 
			  Year received by MHRA  Total number of adverse incident reports  Total number of adverse incident reports submitted directly by patients/members of the public  Total number of adverse incident reports submitted directly by health care professionals 
			 1997 5,383 Not applicable 3,653 
			 1998 6,298 Not applicable 5,007 
			 1999 6,610 Not applicable 4,297 
			 2000 7,249 Not applicable 4,613 
			 2001 7,896 Not applicable 5,660 
			 2002 8,756 Not applicable 4,927 
			 2003 8,803 Not applicable 4,204 
			 2004 8,840 Not applicable 4,546 
			 2005 7,862 Not applicable 3,806 
			 2006 7,975 117 3,708 
			 2007 8,634 103 3,429 
			  Notes: 1. 'Patients' are included under the heading 'Patients/Members of the Public'. 2. The first full year in which reports from patients/members of the public were identified separately was 2006. Therefore for the years 1997 to 2005, this has been identified as "Not applicable". 3. MHRA records for 1979-99 contain the total number of adverse incident reports received and the percentage for each recorded report source. The figures for reports received from health care professionals for these years have been calculated using those percentages.

Mental Health: Unemployed

Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what plans he has to increase the capacity of mental healthcare services during a period of increasing unemployment;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the effects on demand for mental health care services as a result of increasing rates of unemployment;
	(3)  what plans he has to reduce the prevalence of mental illness related to redundancy or fear of redundancy.

Phil Hope: We recognise that there are links between poor mental health and difficult economic circumstances and, in the current climate; it is understandable that people might worry more about their finances. Mental health services in England are now better prepared than ever before to provide help for these people.
	Since 2001-02, real terms investment in adult mental health services increased by 44 per cent. (or £1.7 billion) putting in place the services and staff needed to transform mental health services. The national health service spent £5.53 billion on these services in 2007-08 (£3.844 billion in 2001-02).
	We now have 64 per cent. more consultant psychiatrists, 71 per cent. more clinical psychologists and 21 per cent. more mental health nurses than we had in 1997, providing better care and support for people with mental health problems. (Full-time equivalent)
	Because of the National Service Framework and increased funding, we now have over 740 new community mental health teams offering home treatment, early intervention, or intensive support for people who might otherwise have been admitted to hospital.
	Further, we are investing significantly in the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme with annual funding rising to £173 million in the third year (2010-11), to train 3,600 extra therapists and treat 900,000 more people in those three years.
	This programme is relieving distress and transforming lives by offering effective intervention and treatment choice to people with depression and anxiety disorders and improving the collection, recording and measuring of patients' health outcomes, producing data that allows further research.
	There were 35 new services launched last month, with more than 800 therapy workers now offering this support to people who need it.

NHS Direct

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in  (a) North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust and  (b) England have made calls to NHS Direct in each year since 2001; and what the estimated cost of the service was in each year.

Ben Bradshaw: The information on calls made to NHS Direct from North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust and England is not available in the format requested. Such information as available is in the following tables.
	
		
			   Calls answered by NHS Direct that originated in North Yorkshire and York PCT  Calls answered by NHS Direct nationally 
			 2003 33 5,256,329 
			 2004 58 5,299,298 
			 2005 8,861 5,484,724 
			 2006 54,358 5,262,298 
			 2007 49,283 4,737,824 
			 Total 112,593 26,040,473 
			  Note: This data is only available from 2003 onwards. 
		
	
	
		
			   Total costs of core service (£000) 
			 2004-05 121,372 
			 2005-06 141,030 
			 2006-07 (1)127,687 
			 2007-08 124,017 
			 (1 )From 2006-07 the cost of providing the core service (0845 telephone service, NHS Direct online and digital TV services) includes the cost of providing access via the internet and digital TV. The figures in table 1 do not include contacts via the web or digital TV service.  Note: This data is only available from 2004-05 onwards.

NHS: Expenditure

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what  (a) net NHS expenditure,  (b) net NHS expenditure per head and  (c) net NHS expenditure as a proportion of GDP was in England in each year from 1997-98 to 2007-08.

Ben Bradshaw: The statistics requested are given in the following table. It should be noted that expenditure as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) and expenditure per head are calculated using HM Treasury published information (see notes to table). UK figures as supplied for expenditure as a proportion of GDP as GDP is published on a UK basis.
	
		
			  Net NHS expenditure, Net NHS expenditure/head and expenditure as a percentage of GDP 
			Net NHS expenditure( 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)   (£ billion)  Net NHS  expenditure/head( 8)  UK public health expenditure as a percentage of  GDP( 9)  (%) 
			  Cash( 1) 
			 1997-98 Outturn 34.664 710 5.4 
			 1998-99 Outturn 36.608 740 5.4 
			 1999-2000 Outturn 39.881 810 5.3 
			  
			  Resource Budgeting 
			 Stage 1(2) 
			 1999-2000 Outturn 40.201 — — 
			 2000-01 Outturn 43.932 890 5.6 
			 2001-02 Outturn 49.021 980 5.9 
			 2002-03 Outturn 54.042 1,082 6.2 
			  
			  Resource Budgeting 
			 Stage 2(3, 5) 
			 2003-04 Outturn 64.173 1,220 6.6 
			 2004-05 Outturn 69.051 1,350 6.9 
			 2005-06 Outturn 75.822 1,436 7.2 
			 2006-07 Outturn 80.561 1,514 7.1 
			 2007-08 Outturn 89.271 1,676 7.3 
			  Notes:  Expenditure figures (1) Expenditure pre 1999-2000 is on a cash basis. (2) Expenditure figures from 1999-2000 to 2002-03 are on a Stage 1 Resource Budgeting basis. (3) Expenditure figures from 2003-04 to 2010-11 are on a Stage 2 Resource Budgeting basis. (4) Figures are not consistent over the period, therefore it is difficult to make comparisons across different periods. (5) Figures from 2003-04 include a technical adjustment for trust depreciation. (6) Expenditure excludes NHS (Annually Managed Expenditure). (7) Total Expenditure is calculated as the sum of revenue and capital expenditure net of non-trust depreciation and impairments. This is in line with HMT Guidance Expenditure per head. (8) Expenditure/head calculated as reported in evidence to the Public Expenditure Inquiry 2008; this uses the Health Expenditure as defined under the HM Treasury's Total Expenditure on Services (TES aggregate). This definition allows comparison on the same basis between England and the Devolved Administrations. The TES definition of Health Expenditure for England includes most Department of Health revenue resource near cash (excludes certain items e.g. grants to local authorities) plus local authority spending on health plus DIUS' Medical Research Council spending plus National Lottery spending on health.  Expenditure as percentage of GDP (9 )Expenditure as a percentage of GDP is calculated using HM Treasury data published in Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses.

NHS: Finance

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what  (a) net NHS expenditure,  (b) net NHS expenditure per head and  (c) net NHS expenditure as a proportion of GDP is planned to be in England in each year from 2008-09 to 2010-11.

Ben Bradshaw: Information on planned net NHS expenditure and net NHS expenditure per head from 2008-09 to 2010-11 is given in the following table.
	The Department does not provide forecast expenditure as a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) as forecasts of GDP are the remit of HM Treasury.
	
		
			   2008-09  2009-10  2010-11 
			 Net NHS expenditure (England) (£ million) 96,213 102,742 108,183 
			 Population (million) 51.488 51.888 52.297 
			 Net NHS expenditure per head (£) 1,869 1,980 2,069 
			  Notes: 1. NHS expenditure is the sum of revenue and capital expenditure net of non-trust depreciation and impairments. This is in line with HMT guidance. 2. Population projection figures source: Office National Statistics.

Bankruptcy

Justine Greening: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many people were declared bankrupt in each year since 2004-05, broken down by those aged  (a) under 20,  (b) 21 to 26,  (c) 25 to 30,  (d) 31 to 35,  (e) 36 to 40 and  (f) over 41 years old; and what estimate he has made of the number in each category which will be declared bankrupt in 2008-09.

Patrick McFadden: holding answer 10 December 2008
	In the time available, the only information available is that extracted from already published reports. The statistics on the following page are taken from the report "Profiles of Bankrupts and Companies in Liquidation: 2004-5 to 2006-7"(1) and relate to England and Wales only. Equivalent information is in the process of being compiled for 2007-08, to be published in spring 2009. Official forecasts of bankruptcy numbers broken down by age groups are not undertaken; therefore no estimates are available for 200809.
	(1)http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/insolvencyprofessionandlegislation/policychange/profiles2004-7/profileBandC2004-7.htm
	Date of birth is recorded in the majority of bankruptcy cases and may be used to calculate the age at which an individual is declared bankrupt. Bespoke analyses by specified age groups can be scheduled and carried out, but it should be noted that the age groupings requested here are not standard age bands that would be routinely published for any official statistics relating to individuals.
	
		
			  Number of bankruptcy orders by age group England and Wales 
			   No age recorded  Total all ages (where recorded)  18 to 29  30 to 39  40 to 49  50 to 59  60 to 69  70 and over 
			 2003-4 1,730 27,949 5,255 9,453 7,229 4,226 1,451 335 
			 2004-5 2,105 35,414 7,112 11,558 8,932 5,426 1,943 443 
			 2005-6 2,498 51,068 10,297 15,771 13,389 7,859 3,010 742

Business: VAT

Andrew Turner: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what requirements there are on businesses to indicate the reduction in the price of their products made in consequence of the reduction of the rate of value added tax.

Gareth Thomas: The Price Marking Order 2004 require traders, selling to consumers, to display a VAT inclusive selling price and, where appropriate, the unit price of goods in an unambiguous, easily identifiable and clearly legible way. Where there is a change in VAT, a trader may for a period of 14 days, give a general notice that a VAT adjustment has been made. Thereafter, in order to comply with the order, he must display the fully inclusive selling price taking account of the revised VAT level.

Charities

Mark Oaten: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform to which charities his Department has provided funding of £100,000 or more in each of the last three years; and how much was given to each charity.

Patrick McFadden: holding answer 10 December 2008
	The Department does not generally make charitable donations but may have given grants to charitable bodies through a number of our programmes, but the status of the organisations are not recorded. The Department, however, does provide grant-in-aid for operating purposes to the following organisations that are registered as charities. The organisations and amounts (where they are over £100,000) are as follows:
	
		
			  £ million 
			   Citizen Advice  Citizen Advice Scotland 
			 2005-06 23,855 3,240 
			 2006-07 21,470 2,916 
			 2007-08 21,470 3,016 
			 2008-09 21,470 3,389

Consumers: Complaints

Jonathan Djanogly: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what analysis his Department has conducted of the use of super complaints.

Gareth Thomas: holding answer 11 December 2008
	 None have been conducted by the Department. Six super-complainants are currently designated and to date OFT has accepted nine super-complaints covering a range of markets, including care homes, doorstep selling, credit card interest calculation methods and private dentistry.

Departmental Disabled Staff

Mark Harper: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what conclusions his Department has reached in fulfilment of its duty under section 3.111 of the statutory code of practice of the disability equality duty.

Patrick McFadden: My hon. Friend the Secretary of State published his report on Disability Equality on 1 December 2008. This sets out the conclusions reached by his Department in fulfilment of its duty under the disability equality duty. It also includes progress on the actions promoting equality of opportunity as set out in the Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform's (BERR) Annual Report and Accounts 2007-2008.
	The Secretary of State's report can be accessed on the BERR website at:
	http://www.berr.gov.uk/aboutus/corporate/performance/how-we-work/equalityschemes/page35704.html.

Insolvency: Hotels

Jeremy Hunt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many hotels went into  (a) compulsory and  (b) voluntary (i) administration and (ii) liquidation in each region of England and Wales in each of the last five years.

Patrick McFadden: Statistics are only available from Q3 2007 on a consistent basis and no sub-national information is available for "hotels". The following table records the number of hotels that have entered into compulsory liquidation, creditors' voluntary liquidation or administration in each quarter since 2007 Q3 in England and Wales as a whole.
	
		
			  Insolvency procedure  2007 Q3  2007 Q4  2008  Q1  2008 Q2  2008 Q3 
			 Compulsory liquidation 6 8 7 12 n/a 
			 Creditors' voluntary liquidation 10 8 3 11 13 
			 Administration 0 4 8 5 2 
			  Note: 1. There have been changes over recent years to the classification and extent of sectoral information collected and analysed. Consistent data is only readily available on a quarterly basis from 2007 Q3. 2. Industry-level data are not currently available on a regional basis. 3. Data for compulsory liquidations for 2008 Q3 are not yet available. 4. Companies may enter consecutively into more than one type of insolvency procedure. For example, an establishment may enter into administration, but subsequently become the subject of a creditors' voluntary liquidation. This means that counts should not be summed to a total number of company insolvencies in the sector. 5. Figures for corporate receiverships, and for small business bankruptcies among hotel proprietors are not included in the above figures.

Low Pay

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what recent estimate he has made of the number of people who are paid at a rate below the national minimum wage in  (a) the UK,  (b) the North East,  (c) Tees Valley district and  (d) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency.

Patrick McFadden: Information on earnings is taken from the ONS' Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) dataset for 2008. Information for local authority level and individual parliamentary constituencies are not readily available in the ASHE dataset. However, information is available on a government office region basis and for the UK.
	 (a) The ONS estimates that around 288,000 jobs are paid below the National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates (£3.40/£4.60/£5.52) in the UK in 2007-08.
	 (b) In the North East, around 20,000 jobs are paid below the NMW rates.
	These estimates do not measure non-compliance because some employees, undergoing certain apprenticeships and training, are either exempt or legitimately have lower rates.

Members' Interests

Francis Maude: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform with reference to the Answer to the hon. Member for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr of 10 November 2008,  Official Report, column 907W, on Members' interests, if he will place in the Library a copy of the declaration made by the Secretary of State to the Permanent Secretary of his Department.

Patrick McFadden: As stated in the Ministerial Code, the personal information which Ministers disclose to those who advise them is treated in confidence. However, an annual statement covering relevant Ministers' interests will be published.

Prisons: Electronic Surveillance

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to the answer of 21 July 2008, Official Report, column 910W, on prisons: electronic surveillance, whether the Wilson doctrine applies 
	(1)  to telephone interception and the use of electronic surveillance by the police; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  to data on the hard drive of hon. Members' computers; and if he will make a statement.

Jack Straw: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister to the hon. Member for Lancaster and Wyre (Mr. Wallace) on 12 September 2007,  Official Report, column 2103W.
	The Wilson Doctrine applies to all forms of interception that are subject to authorisation by Secretary of State warrant.

National Curriculum Tests

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what percentage of children who attended Sure Start centres received level 2 or above at key stage 1 for all years for which data are available.

Beverley Hughes: Data collected on levels attained by children at Key Stage 1 does not include information on whether they attended a Sure Start Centre. It is therefore not possible to state what percentage of children who previously attended Sure Start centres achieved level 2 or above at Key Stage 1.

Truancy: Children in Care

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many pupils who were children in care took unauthorised absence in the last 12 months, broken down by national curriculum year group.

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The OC2 data collection collects information on a range of outcomes for looked after children from local authorities. This information has been published in the Statistical First Release "Outcome Indicators for Children Looked After, 12 months to 30 September 2007—England" (SFR 08/2008), which is available on the Department's website via the following link:
	http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000785/index.shtml
	Information on absence from school can be found in table A which shows the number who missed at least 25 days of school during the previous school year. The OC2 data collection is an aggregate data collection from local authorities and it is therefore not possible to provide this information broken down by national curriculum year group.

Illegal Immigrants

Shailesh Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent estimate she has made of the number of illegal migrants in the UK.

Phil Woolas: Since the abolition of embarkation controls, which started in 1994, no government has ever been able to produce an accurate figure for the number of people who are in the country illegally.
	By the end of December 2008, the majority of foreign nationals will be counted in and out of the country.
	This is one part of the biggest shake up of border security and the immigration system in a generation which also includes the global roll-out of fingerprint visas, compulsory watch-list checks for all travellers from high risk countries before they land in Britain and ID cards for foreign nationals.

Alcohol-related Crime

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of measures to combat alcohol-induced crime.

Jacqui Smith: The Government have made a number of such assessments. In the most recently published report; The impact of the Licensing Act 2003 on levels of crime and disorder: an evaluation (2008) by Hough et al, it was found that crimes involving serious violent crime may have reduced and local residents were less likely to say that drunk and rowdy behaviour was a problem.
	As I have stated, the Government are determined to crack down further on alcohol related crime and disorder, this is why I announced last week a new mandatory code of practice to target the most irresponsible retail practices, a £3 million cash injection for Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships for enforcement activities in 190 areas and a further £1.5 million for our priority areas.

Early Intervention Strategies Violent Crime

Graham Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research she has evaluated on the effect of early intervention strategies on levels of violent crime, with particular reference to Nottingham; and if she will make a statement.

Alan Campbell: The Department for Children Schools and Families have evaluated recent interventions such as family intervention projects, including those currently running in Nottingham. It shows that, among other things, intervening early with families can help to reduce levels of domestic violence and antisocial behaviour.

Closed Circuit Television: Crime Prevention

Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the contribution closed circuit television can make to tackling crime.

Alan Campbell: The Government support the use of closed circuit television in tackling and reducing crime. CCTV is most effective when used along side other measures.
	CCTV can also assists the detection of crime in public places and provide evidential material in identifying offenders.
	A recent report by the Campbell Crime and Justice Group
	http://db.c2admin.org/doc-pdf/Welsh_CCTV_review.pdf
	which includes UK membership and whose review was part funded by the Home Office, included the observation that CCTV is more effective in reducing crime in the UK than in other countries.

Departmental Pensions

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what proportion of civil servants in her Department and its agencies are members of the  (a) Classic,  (b) Classic Plus,  (c) Nuvos and  (d) Premium civil service pension schemes.

Phil Woolas: The breakdown of members by PCPS scheme, and the proportion of members in each scheme is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Table 1 
			   Home Office and UKBA  Proportion of members in scheme (percentage)  CRB  Proportion of members in scheme (percentage)  IPS  Proportion of members in scheme (percentage) 
			 Total members 21,380 — 526 — 3918 — 
			 Classic 11,553 54.03 324 61.60 2,154 54.98 
			 Premium 8,340 39.01 136 25.85 1,411 36.01 
			 Classic Plus 709 3.32 5 0.95 59 1.51 
			 Nuvos 778 3.64 61 11.60 294 7.50 
		
	
	The figures reflect the position as at 30 September 2008 which is the latest data that is currently available.

Departmental Recruitment

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many civil servants in her Department were recruited through the fast stream; and what the average salary of those officials is.

Phil Woolas: Over the past four years the Department has recruited the following numbers of people into the Fast Stream.
	2007-08—12 new fast streamers (five external and seven in-service)
	2006-07—34 new fast streamers (27 external and seven in-service)
	2005-04—37 new fast streamers (31 external and six in-service)
	2004-05—37 new fast streamers (27 external and 10 in-service)
	The starting salaries of people joining the Fast-Stream as a Higher Executive Officer (Development) from outside the Home Office is as follows:
	
		
			   £ 
			 2007-08 25,046 
			 2006-07 23,566 
			 2005-06 22,978 
			 2004-05 22,289 
		
	
	The Fast Stream is open to all staff between Administrative Assistant and Senior Executive Officer grades.
	Statistics on intake into the Fast Stream as a whole are published annually on the Cabinet Office website. Copies are available in the Library for the reference of Members.

Driving Under Influence: Kent

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many offences of  (a) drug and  (b) drink driving were recorded in (i) Ashford and (ii) Kent in each year since 1997.

Alan Campbell: Offences of driving while unfit through drugs or drink are summary offences and do not feature in the recorded crime statistics collected by the Home Office.
	The Home Office does collect data on recorded offences of 'Causing death by dangerous or careless driving (including while under the influence of drink or drugs)'. However, it is not possible to determine from the information held centrally which, if any, of these offences were committed while the offender was under the influence.
	The available information for the aforementioned offence is given in the following table. Data for this offence has only been collected at local authority area level since 2000-01.
	
		
			  Recorded offences of causing death by dangerous or careless driving (including while under the influence of drink or drugs) 
			   Ashford local authority area  Kent 
			 1997 n/a 12 
			 1998-99 n/a 11 
			 1999-2000 n/a 12 
			 2000-01 — 3 
			 2001-02 — 10 
			 2002-03 — 7 
			 2003-04 — 10 
			 2004-05 2 6 
			 2005-06 — 12 
			 2006-07 0 17 
			 2007-08 2 6

Entry Clearances

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how long it took on average to process a  (a) short-term and  (b) long-term visa application in the latest period for which figures are available.

Phil Woolas: Average processing times for visa applications received in August 2008 are shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Length of stay  Visa applications received in August 2008  Number resolved  Percentage resolved  Average processing time  (days) 
			 Short-term 117,703 116,248 98.8 2.9 
			 Long-term (more than six months) 104,559 103,943 99.4 4.7 
			  Note: This data is unpublished and should therefore be treated as provisional.  Source:  Central Reference System, 8 December 2008

Entry Clearances: Kyrgyzstan

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the application for entry clearance to the UK in respect of musicians and performers invited by the Kyrgyz Ambassador was first received; and on what dates the application was processed in  (a) Kyrgyzstan,  (b) Almaty,  (c) Astana and  (d) London.

Phil Woolas: The visa applications submitted by musicians and performers invited by the Kyrgyz Ambassador were received at the British Embassy Office Almaty on 10 October 2008. Due to technical difficulties the three musicians were asked to re-submit their applications on 29 October. That same day a further, but different failure in the IT system meant that Post was unable to process any visa applications for two weeks. The musicians elected to retrieve their passports during this time. Their applications have yet to be processed and the British Embassy Office in Almaty is awaiting further instructions from the musicians as to whether they wish to proceed with their applications or withdraw their applications (with a full refund). Applications from these musicians and performers have not been received or processed in  (a) Kyrgyzstan,  (c) Astana and  (d) London.
	The UK Border Agency has reviewed whether it is possible for a Visa Application Centre, operated by its Commercial Partners, VFS, to open in Bishkek. On average, six applicants from Bishkek apply for visas every day. This low number means that it is not economically viable to operate a Visa Application Centre, although we are exploring whether we are able to partner with other countries and open a shared centre.

Forced Marriage

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many suspected cases of forced marriage were reported to  (a) the UK Border Agency and  (b) UK agencies abroad in the last 12 months;
	(2)  what timetable she has set for taking steps to assist victims of forced marriage with no recourse to public funds;
	(3)  what progress has been made towards full implementation of the scheme to give victims of domestic violence with no recourse to public funds access to assistance with their housing and living costs;
	(4)  what steps her Department is taking to prevent forced marriage by raising public awareness of the matter.

Phil Woolas: During the first three quarters of 2008 the Forced Marriage Unit provided support in 196 reluctant visa sponsors cases that were dealt with by the UK Border Agency and provided consular assistance overseas in 192 cases.
	Since January this year the Forced Marriage Unit has participated in over 90 outreach events to raise awareness of forced marriage in the community.
	Over the next two years the Forced Marriage Unit will continue to provide a programme engagement, including rolling out pilot surgeries in selected areas in order to raise awareness and provide support around forced marriage directly to local communities and participating in a further series of regional "honour" based violence roadshows.
	In March, the Home Office announced a new scheme where those supporting victims of domestic violence who have no recourse to public funds may be eligible to receive financial support towards their housing and living costs. If someone is a victim of forced marriage and has no recourse to public funds then they will be able to apply for ILR under the Domestic Violence Rule. They may also be eligible to apply for support under the new No Recourse to Public Funds scheme, in order to receive support for their housing and living costs.
	We continue to work closely with colleagues in the UKBA, the No Recourse to Public Funds Network and stakeholders, on the detail of the scheme to give victims of domestic violence with no recourse to public funds, access to assistance with their housing and living costs, if their application for indefinite leave to Remain is successful. The scheme is currently being negotiated and will be implemented shortly.

Genetics: Databases

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department who is on the board which monitors the development of the DNA database.

Alan Campbell: The National DNA Database Strategy Board has responsibility for oversight of the National DNA Database, including the development of the Database. Its current membership is set out in the following table.
	
		
			  National NDNAD strategy board—members 
			  Name  Title 
			 Mr. Gary Pugh, Director of Forensic Services, Metropolitan Police Chairman 
			 Mr. Stephen Webb, Home Office Policing Policy and Operations Directorate Core member, representing Home Office 
			 Mr. Keith Mannings, Association of Police Authorities Core member, representing APA 
			 Mr. David Money, Devon and Cornwall Police Authority Core member representing APA 
			 Mr. Kevin Mathieson, Deputy Chief Constable, Tayside Police Representing ACPO (Scotland) 
			 Dr. Douglas Pearston Scottish Police Services Authority 
			 Professor Peter Hutton, University of Birmingham Chair, NDNAD Ethics Group 
			 Mr. Andrew Rennison Forensic Science Regulator 
			 Professor Stephen Bain, University of Swansea Lay Member, representing HGC 
			 Professor Sarah Cunningham Burley, University of Edinburgh Lay Member, representing HGC 
			 Dr. Simon Bramble Head of Police Science and Forensics, NPIA 
			 Dr. Michael Prior NPIA NDNAD Custodian 
			 Ms June Guiness NPIA NDNAD Custodian DNA/Quality Adviser 
			 Det. Insp. Stacey Dibbs, ACPO DNA Staff Officer Secretariat

Identity Cards

Dominic Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether British citizens with an entry on the National Identity Register will be required to inform the Home Office when they have a child.

Jacqui Smith: It is a legal requirement for all births in the United Kingdom to be registered. However, the fact that an individual has had a child is not a registrable fact under the Identity Cards Act and so would not be included with that person's entry on the National Identity Register.

Immigration and Nationality Directorate: Disciplinary Proceedings

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many members of staff at the Immigration and Nationality Directorate have been investigated for impropriety since 31 July 2006.

Phil Woolas: The number of UK Border Agency staff (formerly Immigration and Nationality Directorate) investigated for impropriety since 31 July 2006 is 1,004. This includes attendance, discipline, bullying harassment or discrimination, and performance issues.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she will respond to the letter to her of 21 October 2008 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton, with regard to Mr S. Choudhry.

Jacqui Smith: I wrote to the hon. Member on 8 December 2008.

Theft: Greater London

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents of theft or burglary have been reported in  (a) London and  (b) Bexley in each year since 1997.

Alan Campbell: The available information relates to offences of theft and burglary recorded by the police. Figures for the London region and the Bexley Basic Command Unit are given in the following tables. Data for theft and burglary at Basic Command Unit level are only available from 2001-02.
	
		
			  Table 1: Offences of theft and burglary recorded by police—1997 
			  Number of offences 
			   Theft  Burglary 
			 London region 371,141 141,458 
			 Bexley (1)— (1)— 
			 (1 )Not available. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Offences of theft and burglary recorded by police—199 8 -99 to 2001-02 
			  Number of offences 
			   Theft  Burglary 
			  1998-99   
			 London region 387,928 124,381 
			 Bexley (1)— (1)— 
			
			  1999-2000   
			 London region 430,875 129,565 
			 Bexley (1)— (1)— 
			
			  2000-01   
			 London region 420,400 112,920 
			 Bexley 7,832 2,583 
			
			  2001-02   
			 London region 449,982 116,493 
			 Bexley 6,964 2,394 
			 (1) Not available.   Notes:   1. The coverage was extended and counting rules revised from 1998-99. Figures from that date are not directly comparable with those for 1997.  2. The data in this table are prior to the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard. These figures are not directly comparable with those for later years. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table  3 : Offences of theft and burglary recorded by police—200 2-03 to 2007-08 
			  Number of offences 
			   Theft  Burglary 
			  2002-03   
			 London region 469,877 113,871 
			 Bexley 6,743 2,341 
			
			  2003-04   
			 London region 454,289 105,815 
			 Bexley 6,630 2,226 
			
			  2004-05   
			 London region 416,993 101,975 
			 Bexley 5,590 1,986 
			
			  2005-06   
			 London region 404,975 103,876 
			 Bexley 6,136 2,366 
			
			  2006-07   
			 London region 370,303 97,130 
			 Bexley 4,917 2,076 
			  2007-08   
			 London region 336,613 94,265 
			 Bexley 5,598 2,180 
			  Note:   The data in this table takes account of the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002. These figures are not directly comparable with those for earlier years.

War Crimes: Entry Clearances

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire of 13 November 2008,  Official Report, column 1345W, on crimes against humanity: entry clearances, how many cases considered by the war crimes team have been referred to the Metropolitan Police.

Phil Woolas: Since 2005, the War Crimes Team in the UK Border Agency has referred 22 cases to the Metropolitan Police for inquiry.

War Crimes: Entry Clearances

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire of 13 November 2008,  Official Report, column 1345W, on crimes against humanity: entry clearances, in how many of the cases where applicants have been refused refugee status following recommendations by the war crimes team the applicant has been granted discretionary leave and remains in the United Kingdom.

Phil Woolas: The Case Information Database records three applicants who, following a recommendation from the war crimes team, have been refused asylum under Article 1F(a) of the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees since October 2007 and who have also been granted discretionary leave. The Case Information Database is not designed to track whether individuals granted leave to remain are currently present in the United Kingdom.
	These figures are not provided under national statistics protocols and have been derived from management information which is provisional and subject to change. Prior to this period data could be obtained only at disproportionate cost through the examination of individual case records.

War Crimes: Entry Clearances

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire of 13 November 2008,  Official Report, column 1345W, on crimes against humanity: entry clearances, how many cases investigated by the war crimes team involved those who were refused  (a) naturalisation and  (b) indefinite leave to remain and who remain resident in UK territory.

Phil Woolas: The information requested could be obtained only by the detailed examination of individual case records, or by undertaking further inquiries, at disproportionate cost.

Learning and Skills Council: Reorganisation

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what the status of Learning and Skills Council (LSC) local partnerships will be following the reorganisation of the LSC.

Si�n Simon: The White Paper 'Raising Expectations: enabling the system to deliver', set out proposals to ensure that the needs of learners (young people and adults) and employers are met by a more responsive system. Responsibility for the planning, commissioning and funding for education and training for 16 to 19 year-olds will transfer to local authorities, supported by a new Young People's Learning Agency. For adults we propose to build on the demand led approach, including through the creation of a new Skills Funding Agency and strengthened advice and support services for adults and employers.
	In respect of young people, local partnerships, such as the 14 to 19 Partnerships and Children's Trusts, are all being strengthened ahead of the dissolution of the LSC. At the same time the Government are working to develop stronger local area agreements and multi area agreement proposals to ensure that all partners are clear on roles, responsibilities and outcomes. Building stronger links between local, regional and national bodies is vital to ensure the outcomes for young people, adults and employers are continuously improved. That is why local authorities will be expected to work collaboratively with one another supported by a slim line Young People's Learning Agency.
	In respect of adult skills, the Skills Funding Agency will also work with and develop existing local partnerships. It will work, for example, in partnership with the Young People's Learning Agency, regional skills and employment boards and other local and regional skills bodies to respond quickly and flexibly to national, regional and local skills needs, including drawing up statements of regional priorities and ensuring that these are reflected in multi area agreements and local area agreements. The SFA will also work with regional development agencies and local authorities in relation to economic development and worklessness.
	We are also encouraging colleges and learning providers to co-operate with each other and with other key partners in order to meet the needs of employers in relation to skills training, and also to ensure that local strategic skills needs are met.
	Our proposals will require legislation, which will be introduced early in 2009, as part of the Children, Skills and Learning Bill. Until the new arrangements are in place, the Learning and Skills Council will continue to be responsible for securing the effective delivery of post 16 learning. More detail on the pre 19 proposals can be accessed via this link,
	http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/publications/14-19nextsteps/.
	More detail on the Skills Funding Agency can be found in the recently published 'Adult Skills Reforms: An Update', accessible via this link:
	http://www.dius.gov.uk/policy/raising_expectations.html.

Music: Copyright

Janet Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what discussions he has had with musicians and their representatives on the Draft Copyright Term Directive.

David Lammy: The Department discusses this issue regularly with representatives of the music industry, including with musicians and performers' representatives.

Students: Fees and Charges

David Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills 
	(1)  when he plans to publish the terms of reference for the tuition fees review; and whether he expects the review to report before the end of 2009;
	(2)  how long he expects the tuition fees review to take.

David Lammy: My right hon. Friend, the then Secretary of State for Education and Skills, has already published draft terms of reference for the review in his statement to the House in January 2004. These include the rates of return and patterns of subsequent employment of those who paid variable fees. The assurances we have previously given this House made clear that there would be an independent review of tuition fees, reporting to the House, once we had evidence on the first three years of the variable fee regime. The first three years of operation will not be concluded until autumn next year. The timing and duration of the review will enable us to fulfil the commitment given to the House in 2004 that there will be no vote before 2010 at the earliest, and to enable the review to present Parliament with an evidence-based report covering the full range of the issues it has been asked to consider through its terms of reference.